As a young mother, Diana Holz refused to leave her daughter in child care.
That dilemma inspired the Auburn woman to launch a small daycare business of her own.
“My love has always been children,” Holz said without hesitation. “It’s really been a passion of mine all these years. The love of children keeps me going.”
What began in 1974 in the confines of Holz’s own home eventually became something greater. It was also the start of a long and fulfilling career.
Under Holz’s leadership and aided by a stable close-knit staff, Green River Montessori School persevered through lean times and many changes to blossom into one of Auburn’s leading accredited childhood educational centers.
The school will celebrate a milestone, its 35th anniversary, Saturday at Green River Community College. The reunion is a tribute to many years of devotion and hard work, reflected in the guidance and support of three sisters – Holz, Tina LayosKnapp and Linda Davis.
“It’s been a success,” said LayosKnapp, the school’s director. “It’s overwhelming when you think we’re on our second generation of students. Our former students are bringing their children to our school. It’s just a great tribute.”
Hard to imagine it’s been 35 years since Holz first opened up her modest duplex to children. She soon expanded her program outside her home. In 1981 she adopted the Montessori philosophy and established the school.
In time, Holz has become a leader in the childcare community and taken an active role in training others in the field.
Training requirements and standards in the field have improved dramatically over the years. Holz has seen those changes first hand in family, child and center care.
“It’s gone by too quickly,” said Holz, the school’s educational advisor who is also in charge of the Early Childhood Education Department at Green River Community College. “In the early days, there were few standards, little training and low costs.”
That all has changed today.
GRMS, located in three separate buildings on 10th Street and Harvey Road, employs a seasoned staff of 15 and supports an enrollment of 80, from preschool (as young as 2 years old) to the eighth grade, as well as 25 students in before- and after-school programs.
The staff includes Davis, the school’s longtime cook, and Mary Albanna, a teacher and a key member of the support crew.
The school also hires many of its former students. Lori Fietz, Holz’s niece, began as a 25-cents-an-hour aid and is now a Montessori-trained and University of Puget Sound graduate who splits teaching time between the school and GRCC.
The school holds true to its family-value roots and Montessori’s child-centered, alternative educational methods, which emphasize self-directed activity on the part of the child, the clinical observation on the part of the teacher, and the adaptation of the child’s learning environment to his or her development.
As Holz points out, GRMS is not a daycare provider, it’s an engaging learning environment managed by a well-trained staff.
“We respect the child and the love of lifelong learning,” Holz said. “We treat children better than our own.
“It’s a joy, a delight to be able to work and learn here.”
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Celebration
Green River Montessori School celebrates its 35th anniversary from 3-6 p.m. Saturday at the Lindbloom Center, Green River Community College, 12401 SE 320th St. The celebration will include a reunion of those who attended or worked at any of the following locations: Diana Holz’s Family Child Care, Hilltop Drop-Tot, The Children’s Garden, Sunshine Day Nursery and GRMS. Alumni, friends, staff, community members and current GRMS families are invited. For details, visit www.GRMontessori.com and sign the alumni guest book.
